The 44th Hunger Games
by Emmelee
Summary: Cassie takes part of the 44th Hunger Games, teams up with other contestants, will they make it out alive? This is a group work done for a literature course. We would really appriciate all feedback! Thank you in advance! Emmelie, Oscar, Alecc and Anders


Short summary: Cassie takes part of the 44th Hunger Games, teams up with other contestants, will they make it out alive?

This is a group work done for a literature course. We would really appriciate all feedback!

Thank you in advance!

Emmelie, Oscar, Alecc and Anders

Chapter 1:

I stood petrified, I could see my face on every screen surrounding the people sitting above. They were all cheering loudly a moment ago, but when the screens turned to me and Aleon, all we could hear were murmuring amongst them. I had expected as much, it is not every day that you see a woman with a cybernetic arm. I was firmly grasping the railing on the cart as the horses carried us along. Aleon waved to the crowd with a large smile on his face. He is more used to attention than I am, always being the center of it. He is very popular back in District 3, people were cheering loudly for him as he volunteered for tribute this year. We usually don't get volunteers in our district, so it caught us by surprise. I of course did not get any cheers, even with the low probability of my name being drawn, it happened. Bad luck I suppose. No, there's no such thing as luck. I had done the calculations. And if I remember correctly there was "Ouch, why did you pinch me" I blurted out quietly. Aleon put his hand back on the railing "Smile, wave… Do something..." he whispered.

I had gotten lost in my thoughts again. I quickly raised my left arm keeping the cybernetic one firmly gripped around the railing. The murmuring stopped and the crowd started cheering loudly again. "From District 3, Aleon Tarrin and Cassie Woodburn!" we hear the commentators announce loudly to the audience. They cheer even louder than before. Hearing my name announced that loudly feels strange. The cheers even stranger. All the carts line up in front of the podium where the president holds his speech. His speech is wonderful and inspiring, and ends with him wishing us all good luck. There's that word again… Luck… It does sound much better coming from him, maybe the word isn't that bad after all.

After the ceremony we're all brought into separate rooms and told that this is where we will stay whilst we train. It's a nice room, there's food already prepared on the table, the bed looks very comfortable, and the bathroom has a very nice and large shower. I take it all in before sitting down for supper. I think back to my family at home, I wonder what they're feeling... Proud or scared. Hopefully I will be able to ask them when… If I come home again. I wake up early the next day, morning sunlight beaming through the large window in my room. I eat my breakfast and prepare to leave for the training center. I put on the clothes laying on the bedside table, already prepared for me in my size. The corridor outside our rooms lead to an elevator that takes us straight to the training center. Surprisingly I am not the first to get there, if I remember correctly the boy from district one and the girl from district 2 are the ones already here.

They both glare at me as I step inside the hall. It's a large open space, filled with different terrain types and simulated target dummies. A lot of the technology here comes from my district. When I was frustrated I used to go down to our research hall to punch one of those target dummies. This isn't me needing to vent my frustration though, this is training to murder. I walk over to the row of weapons laying down on a table to the side of the entrance. It's not a certainty that any of these will be in the arena, but some of them might. My best choice would be to train with several of these, and hone my hand to hand combat. That would assure the highest probability of success. "Deep thought again Cassie? Or just thinking of another poem?" Aleon says as he walks into the hall. "What, I'm just… Trying to think of a strategy. And they are called Haikus" I respond hesitantly. "Haha, That's smart, I assume that's what all of us are trying to do." He says back.

He's not wrong, the two people who were already here are both people who volunteered to the Hunger games. Both of them have probably trained since before they turned 10 for the games. They both have very defined muscle features. I catch myself staring slightly too long at the girl before I look back to Aleon. "So what's your strategy then? You must have something in mind considering you volunteered." I ask him. "Yeah, I've trained a fair bit for this." He says as he picks up a sword from the counter. He walks over to a small chamber which simulates combat. He then proceeds to slice through the simulated targets with very clean precision. Both the other contestants are looking on with disbelief. I'm pretty sure the boy from District 1 dropped his jaw for a second there. I pick up two knives to start, and head to a chamber of my own.

The three days we have goes over well, I pick up as many weapons as possible and practice with all of them. We were even brought into a room to show possible sponsors what we were capable off. I made several of them look impressed when I punched a hole through a wall using my cybernetic arm. Then the day had finally arrived. I was woken up early by my mentor. He took me and Aleon down to a dark hallway and told Aleon to go down to the left. He then led me to another hallway. "Do your best now, and try not to die Cassie." he says to me. I just nod back to him and start walking down the hallway. I walk for a bit before I see a bright light. I finally get a closer look when I reach the end of the hallway. It's a glass elevator, the light seems to be coming from aboveground. I think back to the words the President gave during his speech. "And good luck to all of you" he had said. I take a deep breath remembering those words before I go in.

Chapter 2:

I step into the glass elevator, and I feel my heart pounding. _Steady breaths_, I tell myself. I can't afford to panic now. They'll see how great I am! I briefly think of Aleon and wonder if he's doing any better when sharp light breaks through and blinds me, and the elevator stops. As I step out, I hear a booming voice. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the forty-fourth Hunger Games!"

I know that we can't move until the gong sounds, but I'm ready for this. I look around and take in the surroundings. We're in a desert and in the middle stands a stone platform with bags, probably filled with weapons and supplies. Last time they used this arena was in the 32nd Hunger Games!

The gong sounds and everyone rushes to the middle. I fumble with a switch on my hand and sparks fly. I had no idea what it would do, but I figured I would find out soon enough. I grab hold of one bag, but so does another contestant with tattoos on his face. We lock eyes for a second as we get into a tug of war over the bag, but with a roar I punch him with my cybernetic arm, electrocuting him. His eyes widen as he cramps up and falls back into another group of people fighting over supplies. I grab the bag and a knife and run away from the platform. I know that as long as I get away from the main battle, they can kill each other and I'll win by holding out.

I run over a hill and stumble down and I can feel the sand get everywhere. I spit out a mouthful as I get up and continue, away from the battle. For a few minutes, everything is quiet and the sounds fade, but so does the desert. It seems that they are putting together a mix of different terrains for this arena this year. I reach the outskirts of a dead forest and next to it is a high cliff.

I hear steps behind me as someone charges at me. I quickly spin around, knife ready, but feel my arm slightly trembling.

I haven't killed before, but it shouldn't be too hard, I tell myself. I've trained enough! A girl who I think is from District 5 charges at me and knocks the knife out of my hand, sending it flying, and wrestles me to the ground. Her hands close around my throat and she starts to choke me. In blind panic, I try to push her away with my arms, but she's pinned them under her legs. I struggle with all my might as it starts to go black. By some miracle, I break free my left arm and punch her. It's barely a light tap, but it is enough. The hand shocks her and I use the opportunity to turn the tables. I pick up a nearby rock and with my last strength I bash it into her head. One time, two times, three times. A gong sounds and I look up to the sky. An image of the woman is seen, with her name underneath. "Amber Clark, District 5".

I drop the rock and look down, taking deep breaths, trying to get to my senses. I've killed someone. For a second, I feel a strange emotion. What did I just do? But it passes just as quickly, and I look over to pick up the bag, but I see that it's been ruined in the struggle. _Damn her_, I think angrily. She's ruined my plan! She's ruined everything!

I look down at my hand. The electric charge has all but burnt out. Frustrated, I look over to the cliff, and see three contestants on top of it. One of them has a crossbow aimed at me, and fires. I leap out of the way and it narrowly misses me. A rush of adrenaline takes over me and I run into the forest, as far as I can. I find cover in a hollowed out section of a fallen tree and sit down, and close my eyes. I sit for what feels as an eternity, and just think, considering my options. I should team up with someone, like those over the cliff, to increase my chances of winning. But it's too late to start talking with people now, the time for that is over. I should have tried harder to form alliances, to speak with people. Aleon was better at that than I was. I bet he is faring better than I am right now.

I sit for a while longer, and during that time, the gong rings. I count up to 8, before I get lost in my thoughts. I think of a lot of things. I think of home. I think of my experiments. Of my dog Sparky. Of my family.

The night has fallen as I get up, freezing. _I need to get moving_, I think, as a voice behind me startles me.

"Don't move!" it barks. "Turn around so we can see you."

Slowly, I turn to see the group of three from above the cliff, now four. The voice belongs to the man holding the crossbow, ready to fire at any second.

"You were on the cliff." I say.

"Yeah." He replies. "No hard feelings. I'm Cliffe, from District 1. This is Alexa, Donna and John. We've decided to try and work together to survive as far as possible and hopefully, not get killed. Are you in?"

I nod, relief overtaking me that I got an alliance and didn't have to put much effort into it.

They did the right thing by asking me to join them.

"Alright, we should—" I start before the distinct smell of smoke reaches my nose. A faint orange glow in the horizon glows stronger and stronger. Fire.

"Run!" screams Cliffe and I waste no time following, out of the forest and back into the desert.

We stopped near some rocky cliffs and saw the large flames light up the night sky. Hadn't it been for the circumstances, I'd stop and admire it. The bell rang. "Aleon Tarrin, District 3." He hadn't made it.

"Shame. He was nice." Cliffe said and looked at me, as if he expected me to react. "…Yeah. It's… a shame. Bad, terrible." _Really?_ I asked myself. _That's all you have?_ I was definitely not a conversationalist.

"Alright…" Cliffe began.

"Okay, this is what we should do." I interrupted him. "If you listen to me we should get through this. I recognize this part of the arena from the 33rd Hunger Games." I could see the girls exchanging looks, but John and Cliffe seemed to listen. I told them of my plan, we sneak around and try to avoid eventual traps and take on contestants one by one. They agreed, since they knew I was right. I always am.

"We should really find shelter though. Rest." Said Cliffe.

"No." I responded. Why didn't they understand? "The only way to get through this is if you listen to me."

I could see Cliffe frown but I didn't care, I marched away and they followed. I could hear them talking among themselves, but I couldn't pick anything up. We never found anyone, and I realized that we needed to rest, and suggested it. Since I pushed them, they said that I had to stand guard. Tiredness came over me many times under the hours, but aside from the bell tolling one or two times, thankfully nothing happened.

At some point, John knocked on my shoulder and he took over, finally letting me sleep.

It doesn't last for long, as I'm awakened by Cliffe at the break of dawn. "John spotted some people. We need to move." Too tired to argue, I follow along as they follow the footprints left by the contestant. I make some small conversation with the others, Alexa is from District 9 and Donna from District 4. John says he's from District 10 but doesn't say much other than that. We reach a small pit and I immediately recognize it as a trap.

"Don't enter that!" I say. "It's a trap."

"It's just sand." Donna replies. "Let's just go. C'mon John."

"I'm telling you, that's—"

"It's sand." Donna insists. "Let's go!"

John shrugged and walked forward, getting sucked into the sand. He yelled out but it happened too fast for anyone to react. The bell rang again.

"John Smith, District 10."

Donna looks horrified at the pit as I start to yell at her. The slightest hints of tears in her eyes. She's not used to being yelled at, I conclude. It's a wonder she made it this far.

"You idiot! This is why you should listen to me! I know this terrain, I told you this before! This exact trap was used in the 33rd Hunger Games!"

"How do you know what happened in the 33rd Hunger Games exactly?" Alexa fires back. Already offset by the lack of sleep, the unnecessary death of John due to them irritates me even further. He was a good asset.

"Unlike you peasants in District 9, **we** can access old footage with our **technology**.", I reply. Alexa starts to take a few steps to me and I do the same, but Cliffe steps between us.

"That's enough! Cassie, that was unnecessary."

"Without me, you won't survive this Hunger Game and you know it!" There's a long silence that's interrupted when we see movement in the sand.

"What's… we have to move." Cliffe says.

The rest of the day passes in irritation. I lead them on the best I can, but the longer time passes, the more they start to argue back. Idiots. As evening approaches, I get into a big argument with them over whether or not to kill a cow that's been spawned, and I notice that even Cliffe is fed up with me now. The smartest thing here is to back off, so I let them kill the cow, cook it, and we eat. I had forgotten how good food could taste, and for us, it's the first meal we've had during the Game. Sadly, we don't have water, but I estimate that with this, we have enough energy for one more day before dehydration takes us.

"I don't like this." Cliffe says to me. We've extinguished the fire to not give away our location, and Alexa takes the first guard shift.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"This whole spectacle. Senseless killing."

"It's not senseless. It's for the greater good." I reply. I don't know if he has been in the sun too long, but this came out of nowhere.

"According to who? The Capitol?" he asks me. The moonlight illuminates his face, and his eyes carry a certain emotion to them. Is it sadness? "It's not right." He gets up and walks away to relieve Alexa of the shift. I sit and think over what he said. Senseless killing? I don't understand how anyone can see this as senseless.

I sit alone and try to come up with an answer to this question, but not arriving to a good one. It may not be right… but it isn't wrong, either. Right?

Like the night before, the bell rings many times. More than last night actually. I don't think that many remain as of now. I get up from the ground and start to walk around a bit to try and keep warm. And that's when I see the movement in the sand again. A giant scorpion bursts out of the ground and we all group together, Cliffe at the ready with his crossbow aimed at it. He fires a shot but it bounces off the hard shell, and we can do nothing more but to run.

We rush towards a crack in a cliff to try and escape the scorpion, but it merely crawls along the wall.

"What the hell is this?!" I hear Donna screaming.

"The Game Master probably sent this after us! That means that they're tired of our little alliance!"

As we reach the opening of the cliff, I see a cloud of green smoke right in front of us, and know that it has to be bad news. I shout out for the others to hold their breaths, which we do, but then I make a mistake. I step onto a mine which sends out a powerful explosion. The sand contains most of the blast, but spreads the gas further and it's enough to send me flying down the cliff and into the dunes below, separating me from the rest of the group. Everything fades to black, and I lose consciousness.

Chapter 3:

I wake up in a large sand dune feeling weird, probably due to the gas.

"Why are we doing this? What did I do to deserve being a part of this hell?".

All the events that has been taking place during the night, all the innocent lives that has been taken for President Snow's pleasure, what is the point?

"I need to get out of here." I get up and start heading towards the group, we need to do something radical to stop this madness, the tradition that the Hunger Games has become. The group should be around here somewhere, we were just together, they can't have gotten far away. "Hello? Guys, where are you?" I shout into the desert.

A bit ahead of me I see something that looks like trees, have I found a way out of the desert? I head towards the trees. As I get closer I start hearing voices. I can feel a shiver of fear running down my spine, is it the group or some other contestant coming to kill me? Is this the end?

I start running, the voices get louder as I get closer to the trees, I can see them, it's the group. Why are they so far without me? I thought we were supposed to stick together, they will never make it without me. "Hey, wait for me", they turn around and stare at me as if they saw a ghost, "Cassie, you're alive, we thought we lost you" Cliffe says with a slight stutter as if he's nervous. "Well, you didn't. Anyways, we need to put a stop to this, President Snow can't keep doing this to us, to the people."

They look confused and a bit scared. I get insecure by their silence, it's not like them, why are they like this? I'm the most important asset of this group; they won't make it far without me. "Come on, let's keep walking, we might find water somewhere around here now that we are out of the desert" but they don't move, they just stand there staring back at me. I start walking into the forest and hope they will just tag along, we can't stand here and waste time. We need to figure out how to stop this bizarre thing we are a part of right now. I am very, very sure this is not how my life is supposed to end. I am too good for this, the world needs me, my purpose is not yet fulfilled.

I keep on walking and now I can hear them fight behind me, it sounds like they disagree on something, what did I miss? I don't have time for this, I won't let them waste my time, I am determined to save us from this, at least myself. The trees are tall and green, full of beautiful leaves. After spending so much time in the desert I have a new appreciation for trees and grass, but it would be nice with some water. My mind won't work perfectly without it. I hear them starting to walk fast towards me, one of the girls scream and I turn around to see what the fuss is all about.

"STOP!" I shout, Cliffe is running towards me. "What are you doing? We are a group, you need me!" Cliffe stops and looks at me, I stare into his eyes, they look red with anger, but I can sense his fear, he is terrified right now. The girls stand far behind just staring with their mouths open, something terrible is probably going to happen, or at least that is their plan.

"We can't stand you anymore Cassie, we need to move on without you and you are in our way, to win this we need to get rid of you, and you know it!" He screams at me.

I can't believe what just came out of his mouth, what does he mean with '_they can't stand me_'? I am the best thing that ever happened to them, he is delusional.

"I am the biggest asset of this group, killing me will make you lose the games you idiot!" I shout back at him. He raises his crossbow towards me, everyone else is holding their breath, everything around us stops. I've never experienced such silence, it is like we are in a vacuum. I stare right at the point of the arrow. Keep calm Cassie, keep calm, I think to myself. This is not how I am supposed to die. That loser Cliffe is not going to end your life today. THWACK, he shoots.

The arrow hits a tree behind me, I start to back away from him, I can't turn around, that would be suicide.

"Kill her Cliffe, come on already!" one of the girls shout from where they are standing. I feel kind of hurt, I thought we were in this together. It must be a mistake, maybe he is confused, he knows I am the smartest one in the group. "Stop it Cliffe, think about what you are doing right now, you need me to stop President Snow!" I yell at him. He looks right at me, whilst reloading his crossbow,

"No Cassie, we do not need you, you are not as good and important as you think, I am doing the world a favor by sending you straight down to hell where you belong, goodbye Cassie." Once again he aims the crossbow at me and shoots KLING.

By reflex I hold up my right arm, the arrow hits, and gets stuck deep in the circuits. I start running before Cliffe has realized that he once again failed with his task to kill me. I run without looking back at the group, I hear them fight with each other, but as I get further away from them their voices get quieter, and then silence.

I got away. "I need to find a safe spot, I need to hide." I think to myself as I keep running, I see caves, it might not be the best option, but I need to sit down for a while. If I'm lucky they are still fighting over Cliffe's poor crossbow skills. I see an opening between some large stones, a small cave to hide in. I hear water from inside, but before I find it I need to get this arrow out of my arm, I hope it hasn't destroyed too many circuits, as I sit down I feel a surge of pain from the arrow. Why did the arm have to be connected to my nervous system? i'd rather not deal with any pain at all right now.

Chapter 4:

My adrenaline was running through my body, my heart was racing. I could not understand how Cliffe had the guts to shoot me, I was their most valuable asset. The one who would have made us win this thing. Proving to everyone else that the games and President Snow are wrong about this whole concept. I am terrified, what if they find me? I am an easy pray for them. Wounded and with no energy. The adrenaline was starting to vanish from my body and the unbearable pain from my arm was starting to grow. I started to examine the arm.

The arrow had not travelled all the way through. It was stuck in the middle and the circuits had started to malfunction. I thought to myself that the only logical reason was to take the arrow out of the arm. I had no fear of taking the arrow out, because back home I was a technical genius. I started to pull out the arrow from my arm, it was strange seeing the arrow sliding out of the metal. When I finally got the arrow out I sensed something wrong with my arm, it was not working as properly as it had before. The earlier malfunctioning in my arm now led to a full technical meltdown.

I started to get upset with myself. "I am the best at this, how could this happen?".

I couldn't help thinking back to when we trained for the games, why did I not take more of the survival lessons. How to deal with the wounds of battle or how to solve the errors with my arm.

"Why in the world did I never learn to modify or fix it myself?". I came to a conclusion; I was not myself anymore. Irrational thoughts led to actions without any critical thinking and considering the consequences following the previous actions. The gas had really messed up my brain. How in the world would I know what to do with a arrow wound in a cybernetic arm? I have never had one before.

My eyes had grown accustomed to the light inside the cave and I could see the water more clearly now. I was incredibly thirsty so I inched closer to take a sip.

It was a game and obviously the water would not been poisoned. Too boring of a death. Every year some poor stupid boy or girl forgets about the need of food and water. It is important to always have it near and accessible, I would also believe that the gamemaker would not exactly be happy about someone's death due to starvation. I had no food and no medical supplies, but I had water. This meant I could survive longer than the incompetent participants from previous years. The water that we had searched for when trying to get out of the desert. I sat down next to the waterbed, and took a sip. It tasted so good; I could not stop drinking.

I lost my balance when leaning over the water. I felt my body falling forward, and then I fell in. I panicked and it felt like I was drowning. The pain in my lungs when I finally got out of the water was on another level than I had ever felt before. I couldn't contain my feelings, so I started screaming. I did not care if anyone heard me. Let them come, I thought to myself. I will fight to my last breath. They cannot beat me, how would they? The anger and sadness that filled my body could not be contained. I had no clue of what to do next. In my life, I always knew what to do. I am a smart girl, the smartest girl. But for the first time in my life. I had no clue of what to do. This was a painful feeling that I never had experienced before.

When I finally came to my senses and out of the water I experienced a burning pain across my left leg. When failing of getting out of the water I must have come too close to a sharp rock in the water that created a deep wound that would not stop bleeding. I had no bandages . The pain was unbearable at it's best. These kind of things do not happen to me. I am way too smart for this stupid game. I went into shock and started staring into the cold cave wall.

I started to think about what actually happened not so long ago. "How could I be so stupid to believe that Cliffe and the other members of the group were my friends? Did I think that we were going to survive this together, as a group? In the previous 43 Hunger Games there had never been more than one winner.".

"Was this the way I was going to die? In a cave by myself, no one to care for me. No one to be with me in my last seconds of life."

I thought I needed to do something, something that could disturb the order in the districts. To make them grasp the living hell that the Hunger Games is. I remembered all the Haikus I had read and written throughout my childhood. How so little text can mean so much. I was not possibly able to write a whole testimony in this cave, but I had noticed that there were some flint stones laying beside me. Maybe I can write something short with these? Something short, but meaningful.

I had understood for a while now that no one was coming for me. My parents were not able to, my so-called friends were the ones who had done this to me. I was going to die in this cave by myself. The cave was cold and the features were symmetric, I figured that this was a cave that the head gamemaker had not put much effort in. Everything in this arena felt real but this cave got me thinking that this was only a game for the ones watching. But for the contestants, it was their reality. A reality who the most of us had not chosen, a reality that was so twisted and disturbing. Is it normal that 23 people die each year for the capitol's amusement?

The bleeding from my left leg continued to flood. However, what was worse is not the pain from the leg. It was the feeling of not being able to change this strange and cruel world was worse. President Snow, a man I hade idolized for so long was worse than anyone at this point. How could a President allow this? I hated him. I hated this game; I hated the society around this. The people did not dare to oppose the capitol, when some people did they got obliterated. Before this experience I saw District 13 as criminals, anarchists. But now I see them as heroes. People that made a stand against the cruel capitol. I had to do something. I again thought about the Haikus. The ancient form of poetry that I had studied in school. The one subject that I enjoyed as much as science class.

It was fascinating for me how so little text could blossom ideas and interpretations. I thought that if I wrote this on the wall, then maybe the cameras would show it to the world.

Unbeknownst to them how dangerous this text could be for their form of society. Before I knew it, I was writing on the cave wall that was huge. It came naturally, it was like a program in a computer doing something automatically. I did not think over what I wrote but it felt good, it felt right. It was like I for once, achieved something, it was better than getting the highest grades in school, being superior to everybody else.

Corrupt and rough worlds

Have deadly consequences

Where innocents pay

I felt the cold reaching through my body. This was it. The moment of silence and loneliness was unbearable. I could not believe it, the feeling of dying was not as painful as the feeling that everyone in the districts would see a young girl die. Die because of a betrayal from her friends. I felt sorry for myself, sorry that I did not win so I could see my parents again.

I heard steps coming nearer, but before I could see who it was. I felt the arrow piercing through my heart.

"May the odds be ever in your favor".


End file.
